Dictionary of Cancer Terms
View in Spanish: Fractura por compresión
Compression fracture (kum-PREH-shun FRAK-sher)
A type of break in a bone caused by pressure and in which the bone collapses. Compression fractures usually occur in the spine (backbone) and in bones made weak by cancer or by osteoporosis (a decrease in bone mass and density).
Source: National Cancer Institute Dictionary of Cancer Terms, available at www.cancer.gov/dictionary.